It Started With A Break-In
by Higuchimon
Summary: The royal grounds were supposed to be for the royal family. Outsiders weren't supposed to find their way in there, let alone hunt anything reserved for the royal family. And yet...there they were.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** It Started With A Break-In  
 **Characters:** Yubel, Juudai|| **Ship:** Yubel x Juudai (very mild)  
 **Word Count:** 1,600/9,600|| **Chapters:** 1/6  
 **Genre** : Friendship, Romance|| **Rated** : G  
 **Challenges:** Diversity Writing Challenge, H10: at least 6 chapters; One Ship Boot Camp, #28, bunny; Three-Sided Box: 6 chapters, 1500 wpc  
 **Notes:** This takes place in Juudai and Yubel's past life. It's one of my many takes on how they first met one another.  
 **Summary:** The royal grounds were supposed to be for the royal family. Outsiders weren't supposed to find their way in there, let alone hunt anything reserved for the royal family. And yet...there they were.

* * *

Juudai stopped in his usual stroll around the palace grounds, one hand held in his mother's still. She looked down at him, one elegant eyebrow raised. He said nothing but looked over to where two of the guards were talking to one another. They weren't very far away, enough so that while they spoke in low tones, the nearby lake still carried the words over to the young prince.

" - whip them and have them staked out for the ants, covered in honey, that's what I'm going to do!" One of them ranted, fingers gripping around their spear.

The other one shrugged. "It's only a few rabbits. Why worry about it?"

"Because it's my _job_!" The first one insisted. "And if I don't stop whoever is doing it, I'll be turned out of the guard. You know the Captain's been coming down harder on us all lately."

The second sighed. "I know. But you don't need to go that far when you catch them."

Juudai looked up at his mother, eyes moving from her to the guards and back again. "They want to hurt someone?"

Queen Kaien considered matters before she took two steps closer to the guards. "What is the difficulty here?"

Both looked toward her and knelt as they realized who stood there.

"Majesty," the first one said, staring down at the tiled floor. "I hope I didn't offend you with my incompetence."

"Rise and look at me," the Queen ordered. "Tell me what is going on."

The guard rose up and fidgeted before he spoke. "There are rabbits that keep sneaking into the royal garden. The gardeners have been trying to keep them out, and it's part of my duties to help them, and to find out if it's really rabbits stealing the vegetables, or someone using them as a distraction. But it's been three weeks and I can't find anything other than rabbit tracks. I've never even _seen_ a rabbit, let alone a thief."

Kaien tapped a finger against the side of her mouth for a few moments. "Keep doing your work. I will see what I can do."

"Majesty, this is nothing more than a thief at best and a few stray rabbits at worst!" The guard shook their head quickly. "You need not waste your time on this."

"I will waste my time on what I choose," Kaien told them before starting her walk again, Juudai pattering alongside of her.

They managed to make it just out of hearing of the guards before the Queen spoke.

"You want to find out what is going on, don't you?" She knew her son very well. He wasn't much more than eight years old, but he had an unyielding curiosity for all the things in the world that he could find out, and even some that he probably couldn't or shouldn't have.

 _He gets that from me._ She couldn't have been prouder of him.

Juudai nodded quickly, eyes bright. "What if it's an _evil demon_ stealing the vegetables? I bet I could stop it!"

"I'm sure that you could, Juudai. But you should be careful." Her son held the very power of life itself, and if it _were_ a demon – which Kaien very much doubted – then Juudai could get rid of it without much of a problem. Assuming he didn't blow up half the palace in the process.

Thank goodness he didn't have full access to all of his abilities as of yet. They would have to find someone to take care of him before the Light gathered itself enough to send assassins for him. Let alone before their enemies gathered their forces and sent killers of their own. Kuragari wasn't a universally loved nation by any means.

For now, it would do no harm to have him sleep outside for a few nights, until he got the urge to be helpful out of his system or forgot about it altogether. She would arrange it as soon as possible.

* * *

Juudai settled in the little wooden shelter built in the crook of a tree, a cup in one hand and a little plate of food in the other. He'd insisted on starting his vigil early, so he'd missed dinner with his parents. He'd only done that before when he was sick, so this felt quite like an adventure.

Here he sat under starry skies, waiting eagerly to find out what sort of intruder thought they could get away with stealing royal vegetables.

He stared out at the spread of the gardens. On one side he could see the shape of the guard, who didn't have the nice things that he had, and would be staring at the gardens even more intently as Juudai was.

But Juudai would be the one who found out what was going on and stop it. He _knew_ he would be.

He kind of wanted it to be a demon. But he more hoped that it would be rabbits. Rabbits were cute and he could adopt one and it would be his friend. He didn't have a lot of friends. Most of them were only his friends because he was the Prince and their parents wanted them to be his friends.

Juudai wanted a real friend. A friend who liked him because he liked them, and who wouldn't be afraid to say things to him that needed to be said, just because he was the Prince.

But someone he could buy things for and help them, because he was the Prince. It went both ways, after all.

He made himself more comfortable, munching his way through his dinner, and leaving the leftovers on the plate. Someone would pick it up later, probably when they came to check on him. Now he watched, waiting for the slightest hint of movement.

Was that movement? What was it?

It was the wind caressing the leaves of a tree. Boring.

Juudai kept on watching, straining to keep his eyes open. He wasn't going to fall asleep. He _wasn't_ , no matter how much he wanted to.

The stars overhead moved in their gentle dance. The moon began to rise, not a fat and happy full moon, but one slender and giving almost no light at all.

And Juudai slept, as a thin hand stole the last pieces of his food, and slipped away in the shadows.

* * *

"Rabbit tracks! Again!" The guard's cry brought Juudai's head snapping up and he looked around quickly, confused for the first few seconds on why he was in a tree and not in his comfortable bed.

"And more missing vegetables!" The guard wailed in anguish. "This is a _disaster_!"

Juudai blinked and rubbed his eyes before his attention fell on the plate still next to him. It had been wiped absolutely clean, almost good enough to eat off of again, and covered with a light coating of dew. He didn't see any signs of any rabbits, though, or anything else.

Slowly he rubbed his eyes again before he wiggled down to the ground and started toward where the garden guards stood. The guard he'd encountered the day before – or that his mother had – stood there, scanning around and on occasion gesturing to a patch of slightly damp grass with a few tracks in it.

"We're going to have to set rabbit traps," he said. "We should have done that to start with." His eyes narrowed. He didn't seem to have noticed Juudai yet. "If we can catch them, I'm going to have rabbit stew for dinner. And roasted rabbit. And maybe see if the furrier can make gloves for me."

A movement caught Juudai's attention. It wasn't much of one but he'd spent a lot of time watching for small movements to avoid when trying to get out from under the guards' eyes to go have some fun.

 _What is that?_ He took a step toward them, his foot striking a small stone that bounced across one of the paths. As it did, there was a faint hint of a rustle, nothing more than that, and then nothing else.

"Your Highness!" The guard stared at him, a touch pale, and then straightened up. "Of course, you were … helping. Did you see anything?"

Juudai opened his mouth and started to raise his hand to point to where he'd seen the flicker. Then he stopped himself. He'd heard what the guard said and whether or not rabbits infested the garden, he wasn't going to tell on them to someone who wanted to eat them.

"Not really." He rubbed his eyes again, wondering how sleepy he really looked. It must have been enough because the guard nodded, dismissing him with a wave.

"You should go inside. Get some real sleep."

Without even waiting to see if Juudai did that, he turned his attention back to the garden and the small tracks there. Juudai glanced at them himself, wondering if he could see anything.

There wasn't much to see, just a few impressions that were clearing up even as the morning dew dried. Juudai took the long route around, tingling in anticipation as he got near to where he thought he'd seen that little whatever.

If he'd really seen anything. Or if it had been anything worth seeing.

The more he looked, the less he saw, though. At least anything interesting.

 _Maybe it wasn't anything._ He headed inside, a slow wave of weariness making its way over him, not thinking much of anything until he was tucked into his bed again. Then one single observation stirred before he slept.

 _Rabbits couldn't get to where I was._

* * *

 **To Be Continued**

 **Notes:** I have no idea of when I will update this. But I will, eventually.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter:** Two|| **Words:** 3,106

* * *

That same thought remained on Juudai's mind as he slept. Vivid imagery of agile winged rabbits flying through the garden and landing on his lap to clean his plate filled his thoughts, while a demon sat behind him and giggled wickedly with every breath.

When he woke it was a great deal nearer to noon and he stared at the sun-drenched garden visible through his broad window. He could see one of the guards out there too; he'd been told that the only reason he was allowed a room with a garden view was because of his elite bodyguards. He wasn't sure of the reasons why, though. But it gave him something to think about now.

Juudai snuggled back down into his blankets, trying to put all the tiny pieces together. It probably wasn't bunnies, not real ones. Well not _ordinary_ bunnies. He'd heard about magical types of rabbits.

 _They can't fly, though, can they?_ He didn't know. He didn't remember ever having heard about flying rabbits, just magical ones. Some could damage you just by looking at you, he'd heard.

So. Either it was some magic rabbits of some kind – who could probably fly – or someone made them fly – why would they do that? - or someone was making people think there were rabbits in the garden and stealing from it.

He wasn't all that great at logic. But he wanted to figure out why they would do that. Nothing he thought of made any sense. If someone was all that hungry, why couldn't they just go home and eat there? Their food wasn't all that different from anyone else's food. They did have more of it, because there were a lot of people to feed in the palace, but still, couldn't whoever was stealing this just ask?

 _Bunnies wouldn't ask. Magic bunnies can't even talk._ Though he'd never met a magic bunny and if they were magic, maybe they _could_ talk.

He flipped over and stared up at the ceiling, trying to work this out and not doing the best job of it. None of it made sense, so Juudai decided that tonight he would do what he'd done already: he'd wait out in the garden and he would make sure this time that he stayed awake and could see what happened.

For now, he wriggled out of bed and padded to his washroom, planning on how to pull this off. He needed to do it right this time. So he needed something so that he wouldn't fall asleep, and maybe something that bunnies wouldn't want to eat. If they didn't want to eat it, then they wouldn't, and he could see them when they came to check it out.

Sausages. Rabbits wouldn't eat sausages and he _loved_ them. His stomach rumbled just at the thought of having one now.

He'd barely formed the thought of having sausages for breakfast when the door opened and one of the servants walked in, carrying a plate of food, with sausages very clearly present there. She smiled at him when she saw him scrubbing his face.

"Hello, Your Highness. I hear that you were trying to catch rabbits last night?" She settled the tray on his favorite table. "Did you have any luck?"

"Nope." Juudai groaned theatrically at that. "I'm gonna try again, tonight though." He peered up at her. "Think I can have some sausages tonight? Bunnies don't eat sausages."

She chuckled. "I wouldn't be so certain of that. But if you like, I'll leave a message for the night staff. You should make sure that you get a lot of sleep, too. You don't want to drift off, do you?"

Juudai tried not to blush. He wasn't all that successful. He focused his attention on his food instead, settling down in front of it and starting to eat as quickly as he could. He hoped that he could talk to his parents about this before he went out there again. If magic flying talking rabbits existed, then he was pretty sure that his parents would know about it and could tell him.

He hadn't quite finished eating before Queen Kaien poked her head into his room, smiling at the sight of him. "Good noon, Juudai."

"Hi, mother!" Juudai chirped, waving brightly. At least he tried to say that; it was a little difficult with his mouth full of food. He swallowed, trying so hard not to choke, and washed it all down with grape juice. "Did you hear about the talking flying magic rabbits?"

Queen Kaien tilted her head to the side. "The what?"

Oh. Right. Juudai perked up even more at that. "That's what it has to be! Flying magic talking rabbits! Because they have to fly to get up to where I was and they have to talk to ask if they can eat and that means they're magic!"

The queen moved farther into the room, a smile teasing on the edges of her lips. Juudai thought that smile meant that she didn't believe him and she might not let him try to find the magic rabbits again. He drew in a breath, ready to launch his deeper explanation – once he figured out what that was – but she quieted him down with a shake of her head.

"You think we have magical rabbits in our garden?" Kaien sat down at the table. Juudai quickly finished up his food and leaned forward, eyes bright and cheerful and so eager to tell her what he'd thought of.

She listened quietly, not interrupting, until Juudai finished up with asking if he could sit outside again. Her answer didn't come right away and Juudai wanted to ask if he needed to go over everything again when she finally spoke.

"The weather mages informed your father and I that tonight there will be a rainstorm sometime after midnight. It will be cold as well. If you wait, we're going to have to make certain that you're protected from the weather."

Juudai pouted right away. "I'll be fine!" He'd never been out in a rainstorm before, but he'd seen them pouring from behind the windows. It would be amazing to go out there and see it for himself. If only he could! If only she'd let him, without whatever protection she wanted him to have.

"You're going to have a rain-cloak and a few defensive and warming gems, regardless of what the weather is like. And I'll make certain that your shelter is waterproof." Kaien gave him a very stern look. "If you don't agree with me, then you're not going to stay out there until the rain's passed. it's not a good idea to get wet like that and you wouldn't enjoy it."

Juudai sort of wanted to test that for himself. But his mother very seldom backed down and he let out a very put-upon sigh. "All right." He wiggled one napkin a little. "Can I keep the magic talking flying rabbit if I can find one?"

"We'll see. If they can talk, then you can ask the rabbit if they want to be kept." Kaien rose up. "You should sleep today. It will help you get ready for tonight."

"I know. Already got told that." Juudai glanced outside; it didn't look as if it were going to rain. Blue sky from horizon to horizon, not even a hint of a cloud, and if it did rain, it would probably be warm. Those weather mages probably got their predictions all mixed up with winter weather.

Kaien chuckled. "I thought as much. I'll see you this evening, son. Be careful of the flying talking magic rabbits. They can be quite a handful."

"Have you ever met one?" Juudai asked, poking at his plate for any stray pieces of sausage that might have been left behind.

"I've met one or two rabbits. But none that can fly or talk or use magic."

Juudai grinned at the thought of being the first person in his family to meet that kind of a rabbit. And he would definitely find out if it would like to be kept as his pet. Maybe he should clean out an area of his playroom to keep his new rabbit in? He couldn't sleep all day, could he?

Well, he'd be willing to try. He'd always enjoyed sleeping and to be able to do it when he normally didn't excited him. He wasn't even sure if he could sleep with how excited he was.

A couple of hours later, his mother and father peered in to check on him. Neither of them were all that surprised to see him curled up in the middle of his bed, sound asleep, with a book about rabbits on the pillow next to him. King Aodh chuckled.

"What are we going to do with him, Kaien?"

"Hope that he doesn't want us to get him a magic flying talking rabbit if this turns out to just be a clever thief?"

Aodh nodded. Perhaps Juudai would be satisfied with a puppy.

* * *

 **To Be Continued**

 **Notes:** A puppy wouldn't help. But a Yubel might...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapte:** Three|| **Words:** 4,610

* * *

Juudai curled up under his rain-cloak, listening to the patter of rain on the shelter overhead. The cloak kept him warm, while the shelter kept him dry, and sausages stuffed his stomach. There were still a few left on the tray but he left them where they were, along with the vegetables. He figured the flying magic talking rabbits would want carrots and lettuce and radishes more than they would want sausages, and this would probably lure them in.

If they really were flying talking magic bunnies. Otherwise, he would have to start figuring out how something that couldn't fly made it up to him.

He stifled a yawn and peered out of the shelter to where he could just sort of see the dark shape of the guards walking this way and that. He'd heard one of them – the same one that he'd heard complaining about bunnies before – flat out insisting that he'd gone out of his way to make certain that whatever or whoever was involved in stealing from the garden wouldn't do it again. Juudai didn't worry about that a lot. The magic bunnies would probably rather come see him and his plate than a boring guard, wouldn't they?

So he made himself as comfortable as he could and wondered when the rain would stop. Even better, he wondered when the rabbits would come. Maybe closer to morning; that was – probably – when they'd come the first time.

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He wasn't actually sleeping and despite his little yawn, he wasn't all that tired, not since he'd slept most of the day. He'd really been a little surprised when the clouds started to roll up and rain sprinkled downward after sunset. Maybe the weather mages knew a little bit more than he'd thought they had before.

Without warning, the sky split apart, a bolt of lightning streaking from one side of the heavens to the other. Taken by surprise, Juudai jumped, grabbing at the edges of his shelter, and staring around, heart beating faster for a few moments. Slowly he calmed down, as nothing else seemed to happen.

 _Did I see something?_ He wasn't really sure. The moment when all of the sky had been lit by lightning had been so brief that even if he'd seen something moving, he didn't know what it was. It could have been a tree branch waving in the wind or even a bird startled up out of sleep by the weather.

More rain pattered down, far more intensely now, and Juudai tightened the grip of his cloak around himself.

 _I should have waited for another night. When it's not raining._ He wrinkled his nose at the weather and tried to stay as dry as he could. As more rain poured down, he came to a quick decision: as soon as the rain eased up, he was going to go back inside. He could come back when the weather was better and find the rabbits.

After all, would any sensible magical rabbit come out here in this weather? They'd get all muddy! Juudai hated being muddy and he'd never figured out why anyone would feel any different about it.

Where did magical talking flying rabbits live when they weren't off stealing from royal gardens? For that matter, where did regular rabbits live? He'd read what he could find but most of what he'd dug up involved stories about rabbits instead of _stuff_ about rabbits. He hadn't even really found anything about what rabbits ate. He'd asked for the vegetables because everyone knew that rabbits ate vegetables.

They didn't eat sausage. At least he hoped not.

Juudai peered out again, but there wasn't much out there to see except the tall dark shapes of trees blowing in the wind, the echoes of the wind against the shelter, and a few shapes moving that he guessed were the guards. He couldn't see them well enough to be sure, but they were too big to be rabbits.

Usually the garden was lit up by magical lighting even at night – at night the lights grew dimmer but you could still see the way – but right now Juudai couldn't see anything at all. He rubbed his eyes as he stared out, straining to get just the littlest glimpse of anything and not succeeding all that well.

Slowly his eyes started to close. He hadn't been all that sleepy but they closed regardless. At the same time, he could hear something at the very edges of his awareness, something like birdsong. He tried to hear it a little more, even as his energy faded and he started to sleep.

At least Juudai _thought_ he was asleep. He didn't seem to be able to move his arms or legs or even open his eyes. He could still hear the rain pattering down outside and the occasional roll of thunder or the way that the lightning arced overhead.

And he could hear tiny movements that almost seemed like footsteps. Only they sounded like _people_ footsteps instead of furry footsteps. So they couldn't be the magic rabbits, could they?

He wanted to stir up and find out what he was hearing. He could sort of see his tray, if he strained his eyelids to crack the tiniest bit, and he thought there weren't as many vegetables as there had been before.

And wasn't a sausage missing now too? He'd left three on there and he could only see two.

Juudai strained to open his eyes all the way and twitch his fingers, to get out of the sweet web of song that wrapped all around him. He couldn't hear it very well, but it was there, humming against his bones, keeping him from doing anything.

He didn't like that, the more he thought about it. At least as much as he could think about anything. Every word in his head seemed stuck to all the other words, thick and difficult to work through and not all that clear.

A shadow of some kind fell over him. He couldn't get a look at it, but whatever it was, it was _darkness_ , and Juudai reacted to darkness the way that flowers responded to light. He stirred a little harder, his eyes dragging open, and his mind cleared just enough to realize someone was standing over him. He couldn't see who it was; they had something over their face. But the moment his eyes opened, whoever it was moved backwards, words hissing out that he couldn't understand.

Juudai grabbed for the gem that kept everything in the shelter warm, dry, and lit up. He'd wondered if this wasn't a bad idea earlier, because he wasn't sure if the magic rabbits would come because of it. Now he wrapped his hand around it, extinguishing it with his grip.

Juudai wasn't very good at controlling his powers when he _tried_ to. But when he didn't try, when he let himself act without thought, what he did tended to turn out at least mostly right.

With the light gone, he could see what stood before him. A figure about as tall as his mother, but with little visible thanks to the cloak that it wore. He could see hands and a bit of their face, skin so pale that the owner might never have seen the sun. Juudai jerked up to his feet, wishing on an internal level that he could get hold of a weapon.

But all he could do now was reach out to the invader, trying to grab onto them. His hands closed on the cloak wrapped around the stranger and he tugged with all of his might, banging on a slender body. He tried with every ounce of his young strength to get hold of the cloak and see who it was, to figure out what was going on.

He tried, but regardless of the power that infused his body, he still had the body of a child, and whoever this was stood much taller and stronger than he did. He could feel hands grasping onto his shoulders and pushing him away. His feet scraped against the shelter floor uselessly. Juudai barely had time to understand what was going on before he found himself pitched over the side of the shelter, falling into the darkness and the rain.

The ground came up so much harder and faster than he'd ever thought it would. It wasn't at all the first time that he'd ever fallen and hurt himself, but never quite like this before. For a few terrifying moments he wondered if this would be it for him, if he'd never see his mother and father again.

But then something small and soft threw itself between Juudai and the ground and he squawked, wriggling in confusion, a sharp pain radiating up one of his arms, and then the music stole itself around him all over again, and this time he didn't have any darkness to set between him and the song.

* * *

 **To Be Continued**

 **Notes:** So, halfway to the end already! Updating daily has been going well so far!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter:** Four|| **Words:** 6,163

* * *

Juudai was used to wandering in the dark. He did it the way most people wandered in the light, only better. He could see in the dark as easily as many saw in the light, and if he couldn't see, he still _knew_ what was out there.

So when he found himself wandering and not quite able to guess where he was, he shivered and tried to peer anywhere he could. Nothing showed itself. But he could feel something watching anyway.

"Who's there?" Juudai shouted, or thought he did. He couldn't hear his own voice, but he knew he'd made the words anyway. "Where are you? Who are you?"

He drew himself up as tall as he could, another question whispering in the ragged depths of his mind.

 _Where am I?_

This was the darkness. His darkness. He knew that as well as he knew his own room. But he wasn't there. He just knew it was so much like it.

Sometimes being him could be very, very confusing. He wished he had someone who could help him understand.

 **You can. You will. So it will be.**

Juudai jerked his head up, eyes wide, searching for wherever the voice came from. If it could even be called a voice. He wasn't sure if it counted. But he knew what it told him regardless. He wrapped his arms around himself.

And wasn't that wrong? Hadn't something happened so he shouldn't have been able to do that?

 **To your flesh, yes. To you, no. You know who I am. I'm you.**

Yes. Now he knew. There was neither face nor voice here, just an awareness that only he could have, because only he knew himself like this. This was the other side of himself: the Gentle Darkness.

"You said there'd be someone?" He didn't want to forget that. Was he going to find a friend? A really _good_ friend? Better even than a flying talking magic rabbit?

He could feel the Darkness laughing soundlessly at that. **Much better than that. But they will fly and they will be magic and they will be yours forever, as you will be theirs.**

If Juudai could have, he would have jumped up and down with glee. The very thought of that, of all the deepest and fondest wishes that he'd ever had coming true, blossomed a heartfelt warmth within himself.

"When? Who? How?" A thousand more questions would have tumbled out of himself if he'd known everything that he wanted to ask. But the Darkness hushed him with little more than a sense of silence.

 **You'll know all of that when you meet them. Be patient. You need to rest before you can return to yourself. You'll need all of your strength and your flesh won't recover it for days to come.**

Juudai frowned, tightening his hands on his elbows. "What happened?" And why was he here with the Darkness? Not that many people even knew about him or his connection to the life-giving Dark. Had he...was he… did he have to start all over? Would he never see Kuragari again? Or his parents?

 **You will. You'll see them soon, in fact, because you must hurry.**

"Why?" Juudai fidgeted. "What's going on? What _happened?_ " The more that he heard, the less he understood, and the more worried he started to be. This didn't feel right.

 **I can't tell you. There are words that even I don't have and if I did, you wouldn't know what I meant. But when you return, you will be told, and this I can tell you and you must understand: no one must die. No one must die from this, no matter how much others might want it. Everything depends on that. Everything and everyone.**

Juudai tilted his head to the side. "Even me?"

 **Especially you. I would tell you all if I could but being wrapped in flesh means that I can't.**

He didn't like it, but Juudai understood that, sort of. He hadn't visited here very often since he'd come to the world, but being here reminded him of things at times. Like being like he was, he couldn't understand everything that the Darkness did or said, at least not when it was the Darkness and not him. He felt very certain that the Darkness understood him, though, regardless of anything else.

 **I do. We do. We understand you, because you're us and we are you. And yet you can't understand us, because you are a shard of darkness wrapped in mortal flesh. You are the part of us that protects that which we created.**

Juudai couldn't help but draw himself up a little prouder, a little fiercer. To be able to help those who needed it, to defend any who were threatened, he understood _that_ as the reason that he existed.

 **Yes. And one day you'll have all the tools that you need in order to do so. But you need not fear for now. Remain aware of who you are, no matter what. Do that and all will be well.**

Juudai still wasn't certain if he understood all of that, but he could guess what it meant regardless. The longer he stayed there, the more he could recall of what happened. He'd been waiting in the garden for those magic rabbits – which seemed kind of silly now – and there'd been someone there. Two someones. He didn't know what either of them looked like, only that one got in between him and the ground and broke his fall and he wanted to say thank you.

 **Then you'd best return to yourself, shouldn't you?**

Juudai almost leaped out of his skin at that. Faint remnants of pain rippled up through his arm and brought with them sharp remembrance: he'd hurt himself! And he knew his parents and the guard; they'd never be happy about that! That was why he had to wake up! That was why he had to make certain that no one died!

Because unless he interfered, then someone _would_ die, for the crime of theft from the royal garden and assault on the Crown Prince.

Juudai surged upward, eyes wide, the darkness enfolding him pulling away to reveal his bedroom around him. His mother sat in the chair next to him, eyes half-closed, dozing, her sword resting across her lap.

The moment he sat up, Queen Kaien jerked up herself, eyes sharp and defensive. "Juudai?"

"Mother!" He tried to scramble out of his blankets, reaching for her. "Don't kill anyone! Don't!"

Kaien stared at him before she reached out soothingly. "Juudai, you need to calm down. We're going to take care of all of it. How does your arm feel?"

He glanced down to see his right arm set and wrapped in a cast. He barely gave it enough of a look to know that much before he stared back at her. "I'm fine, Mother. But you're going to kill them, aren't you?"

Her voice softened. "Juudai. They're criminals. You could have died yourself because of them. We're giving them a fair trial. They might not even be sentenced to death, depending on the reasons for what they did." She rested a hand on his shoulder. "But you need to rest."

Juudai wasn't having any of that. He wriggled more out of his blankets, ignoring the pain in his arm. There wasn't much of it anyway; he could feel the distinctive tingling of enchanted healing there. But it was far more important to him that he get out of bed and go find whoever it was.

"Juudai!"

"Mother, I want to see them. I have to see them." Everything the Darkness told him resonated in the back of his mind. His parents might not want to execute them – he knew they tried their best to find other ways to punish those who committed crimes – but there were other people and he wasn't going to let them be hurt. Everything he could think of screamed against it.

Queen Kaien pressed her lips together before she stood up and began to unwrap the blankets from around him. "If I take you to see them, will you calm yourself down and let us deal with this?"

He held himself back from saying no. They had to stay alive. That fact thrummed against his bones and in his blood.

His mother turned a very stern look on him. "Juudai."

"Mother, I need to see them. They have to stay alive. It's _important_." He wrapped the fingers of his good hand around her wrist and stared up at her pleadingly.

There weren't that many folk who could have stood up to that look of his. The queen sighed before she finished helping him out of the blankets.

"This has something to do with your darkness, doesn't it?" There was a hint to her voice of wariness and concern. Juudai could only remember hearing that less than a handful of times. But now he nodded as he got his feet underneath him.

"I was there. I told me." He wanted to say it better, to say something that would help Kaien understand the way that he did. But whatever words there were didn't come. But Kaien patted him reassuringly and reached for the robe to wrap around him before leading him to the door.

* * *

 **To Be Continued**

 **Notes:** Who is Juudai about to meet? Well, seriously, it's not like I'm hiding it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter:** Five|| **Words:** 7,674

* * *

Yubel clung to the armored hand that remained wrapped around their shoulders, doing their best to be strong, just like Mother told them to be. They weren't certain of how strong they could be, but they were not going to show fear. At least not too much fear.

 _How can I not be afraid? We're going to be executed!_

They'd seen the way that the guardsman glared at them the moment his trap sprung. Viscous victory, unyielding gloating, and clearly seeing them as little more than thieves, not people.

Yubel knew that look so very well. In all of their years, they'd seen it from far too many people. Perhaps not so many once they'd moved to Kuragari, but enough. Far, far too many.

Mother's hand moved to brush through Yubel's hair, just as hurried footsteps sounded. Mother made no sound, but Yubel stiffened their shoulders and glared ahead regardless. They would be strong. They would be defiant. Whatever happened, they would face it without fear.

At least without any fear showing.

Ahead of those footsteps came another set, these a little more measured, and those Yubel recognized as those of the guardsman who'd taken them captive. He peered into the room, an ugly twist to his lips that turned into a smirk at the sight of them.

"Queen Kaien and Prince Juudai are here," he reported, drawing himself up to the fullest of his – short – height. "You may rest assured that your death will be long and drawn out and _painful_. Queen Kaien and King Aodh love their son and it's because of _your_ thievery that he's been injured. Don't think that they won't exact their revenge on you!"

Mother barely even twitched. Yubel could see the proud warrior that still existed beneath the mud and grime that coated her armor and resolved to emulate her as much as possible. Wanting to be strong and seeing such strength before her were two very different situations.

The guard drew breath, about to start on another tirade, when the hurried footsteps burst into the room. Yubel blinked. They'd barely realized who it was that they'd caught that dark and muddy night, only that it was a kid of about their own age. They'd thought only one thing: that such a kid shouldn't be hurt.

That was why they'd been caught. If Yubel hadn't leaped and intercepted the falling child, then Mother could have activated their escape spell, and they would have returned to their little place safe and sound.

And now Yubel stared into the face of the one that they'd saved and every thought in their mind vanished in the unbelievable realization of _I know you_! Yubel couldn't have said where they knew him from or even what his name was – but Yubel could have picked him out of a group of a thousand, without having seen him before.

Neither Yubel nor their mother could speak while they were in the cage. Yubel thought it was some sort of spell that kept them in fear and in silence. But there wasn't anything else they wanted to say as they stared at him.

The boy – the prince – stared at them both, before his eyes came to rest on Yubel, and rounded in surprise himself. He took another step closer, one hand reaching outward.

"Hi," he murmured, a tiny smile blossoming over his features. "You don't look like a magic flying talking bunny."

Yubel blinked a few times, casting a glance up towards their mother, who shrugged ever so lightly. Then they looked back at the prince, wondering what he meant.

The guard cleared his throat. "Highness, Majesty," he said, bending his head to the tall, regal woman who entered after her son. "I assure you that the thieves will go nowhere before their execution. Now that they've been taken, they will not be released."

Yubel tightened their grip around Mother's hand again, shaking their head. They were thieves, yes, but because they _had_ to be, not because they wanted to be!

 _They're_ _ **royalty**_ _! What are they going to do with all of that extra anyway?_

Perhaps something of that showed in their eyes, as the Queen moved closer to them. Her gaze rested quietly on Mother for a few heartbeats before she spoke.

"That hasn't been decided as of yet. We are going to offer you a _fair trial_. We wish to hear your reasons for what you did and why you did it. We will make our decision based on that as well."

The guard looked as if he were about to draw another breath when the Queen turned a withering look on him. "And you will be rewarded for having succeeded in protecting the royal gardens and _nothing else_. You are overworked at the moment, however. I will have another guard brought. You are on indefinite paid leave pending review of a proper reward for your well done work." She gestured dismissively before dropping her attention back to Prince Juudai.

Prince Juudai, who'd taken another step towards the cage, and hadn't taken his eyes off of Yubel in all of this time. He breathed for a few moments before he smiled, like the sun coming up.

And yet that didn't seem like the right way to describe it regardless. As bright as he was – and he was very bright indeed – he was also _dark_ , the kind of darkness Yubel had only heard of in stories.

"This is the one that saved you, Juudai," the Queen said. Yubel flushed, ducking their head down. They hadn't known that he hadn't known that. Almost automatically, they spoke their name, or tried to. Only their lips moved to shape the word.

But the Queen stared a bit at them. "Again, please? Only those outside of the cage can speak in this place."

Oh, Yubel knew that. But once again they silently spoke the name and the Queen nodded.

"Yubel? Is that what you're saying?"

The Queen spoke it fairly well but with a hint of an accent. Yubel nodded since it sounded more than good enough. She tapped Juudai on the shoulder.

"This is my son, Juudai. I am Queen Kaien of Kuragari." She turned her attention towards Mother, who'd stared back all this time with the most distance that she could muster. It almost made Yubel remember days of long ago, when they'd lived in their own home and the world had been perfect. "And you?"

But Mother said nothing, only standing there with lips sealed together and head held high, back straight as steel. Neither of them had been able to wash or eat since they'd arrived here. That had been hours and hours ago. Food and water had been brought, but Mother hadn't allowed either of them to eat any of it. Yubel thought she might think it was poisoned. The way the guard spoke to them encouraged Yubel to believe that.

Only when it came to Queen Kaien and Prince Juudai, they weren't so sure. Especially when it came to Prince Juudai. Someone like that wouldn't poison anyone, not even a prisoner. But Mother's word remained Yubel's law.

A tiny part of Yubel expected Queen Kaien to rage when Mother didn't answer. But instead, the Queen bent her head in acceptance.

"I do hope that you wish to defend yourself when the time comes. Please wash and eat. We'd like to have you at your best when your trial comes."

The Queen started to turn away but Juudai didn't move so much as a step away. He took one closer, in fact.

"You won't be killed," he promised, eyes glowing with warmth, a smile of sheer acceptance on his face. "I won't let you be. I don't know what Mother and Father want to do to you, but you won't be killed. I _swear_ it."

Yubel believed him. Yubel could have believed in the sun rising in the west, the moon rising painted in polka dots, and their old home being returned to them far sooner than they could have believed Juudai lying.

Queen Kaien urged her son to leave. Juudai kept on staring at Yubel, eyes not leaving from their face at all, as they moved backwards out of there. Only when they were all the way out of the room and the door closed did Yubel let out a silent sigh and lean against Mother.

They would have asked what that meant, why the Prince came, why he seemed so insistent that they wouldn't perish…

And why should they, Yubel thought, when there were so many ways that were far worse than death to punish thieves? They were _royalty_ and they had _magic_. Whatever they wanted to do, they could and would do, and nothing could stop them. Mother told them that many times – royalty was to be feared because only other royalty could stop them.

And sometimes not even then.

But even with all of that in their thoughts, even with Mother's supportive arm around them, Yubel couldn't believe they were in danger of dying.

Juudai promised.

* * *

 **To Be Continued**

 **Notes:** Would you believe I now have an idea for a sequel? Time will tell if I write it! And one chapter to go!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter:** Six|| **Words:** 9,188

* * *

"And might we know your name?" King Aodh asked, his attention centered on the armored woman who stood before him, arms wrapped around the child. There was a resemblance between them; the king did not doubt at all that they were kindred of some sort. Exactly what he wasn't prepared to say.

Released from the spell of silence, she kept her head high, staring at him with a cold remoteness.

"You may address me as _Yuu_." Her voice was forged of frost shards and metal slices. "You will also release us."

Aodh heard a faint shiver in her tone. She would demand, but there wasn't the force of magic behind it, nor the command of royalty. He regarded her in careful thought.

"We will determine that. You stand accused of unlawfully entering the royal gardens, first and foremost. As you were found there, there is no question of your guilt. We wish to know why you entered and stole the crops there." In point of fact, he had no intentions to accuse them of anything to do with Juudai's injury. He'd been caught by his own curiosity, and the child Yubel saved him from worse than a broken arm. True that it wouldn't have happened at all without their intrusion, but they hadn't caused it purposely.

Yuu's lips became a thin line before she spoke. "What else would one do to eat? We have nowhere to grow food of our own and not nearly enough money to buy it. You have more than enough in this place of yours. If you'll not share it with those less fortunate, then those less fortunate will take what we need."

Aodh held back a sigh. Ensuring that those of his kingdom had enough to eat and drink and a warm, dry place to sleep were some of the most important duties of a king, or so he'd always been taught.

"There are places one can go in this kingdom to assist in locating a job that you are capable of doing, that will provide for your needs and those of your child." Aodh observed Yuu for a few more moments. He'd made certain that both of them would be cleaned up before appearing here and he'd been more than a little surprised to see that underneath the mud and filth, blue-steel armor wrapped around pale violet skin, with silver-white hair underneath the helmet. A warrior's body tensed beneath the armor as well, though no weapons were seen save for the sharp-feathered wings: or the remains of wings.

He'd heard stories of this one, now that he thought of it: Dark Valkyria. At least that was what she was called by most. No one knew what her true name might be. They called her that for her warrior's skills. She'd been attached to the royal court of a kingdom quite a distance away and had vanished when it fell to an invading army several years earlier.

 _Five years ago, in fact._ His gaze lingered on the child that she defended with little more than a fierce look and unyielding arms. _I heard tell of..._

Aodh pushed that away for now. Instead, he regarded Yuu. "Though there is another way. I see that you once had wings, did you not?"

Again her lips pressed together and her grip tightened ever so slightly around the child. "What business is it of yours?"

"This: that if you agree to remain here and defend us, we will provide both of you with food, water, shelter, and whatever else that you might need, as well as the restoration of your wings." Aodh knew that he took a chance with this, but they could use all of the help they could get keeping their kingdom safe.

The child Yubel jerked their gaze up towards Yuu. "We could stay here?" Was that hope in their words? Aodh could not help but wonder what sort of life they'd lived until now.

Yuu held them closer, distrust and hope warring across her features before she stared once again at Aodh. "There are other goals we have than just survival," she said, voice harsh and tense.

"As does everyone. And you will need that survival in order to gain those other goals."

Yubel's fingers closed more on Yuu's arms. "Mother. Let's stay. It's a chance."

Yuu said nothing for several long moments. "You call this a punishment for what we've done?" Absolute distrust and fear colored her words and Aodh couldn't blame her. Nor did he want to speak of what he thought might be. A glance to Kaien told him that she quite likely suspected the same points herself. Their scryers and mages kept them informed on most of the events in the world.

"No. I call this an opportunity for both of you to improve your lives. Your punishment will be that for the next seven years, you'll spend three shifts per week guarding the royal gardens, in addition to your other duties. The child Yubel is not old enough to be punished for what happened." Aodh ruled. "You will both remain in the palace and live in the guards' dormitory and eat at the guards' table." Yuu wouldn't at all be the first person to have a family with them in the dormitory.

No sooner had he spoken, however, then Juudai jumped up. "I want Yubel to be my friend! To stay with me, no matter what!" He tried to wave both arms, but stopped one of them, wincing in pain, before he kept talking. "Yubel, do you want to stay with me? Please? You can see your mother whenever you want. But… stay with me? Please?"

Yuu stared at him, and Aodh knew if her wings had been intact, they would have spread defensively over Yubel. He leaned forward.

"It is for the two of you to choose that. But I tell you, our son is as well protected as we can manage. You are aware of who he is?"

The birth of the Herald of the Gentle Darkness had been celebrated over most of the known world. Aodh didn't know if the kingdom they hailed from had been one of those, but there were few who lived in Kuragari who didn't know about Juudai and who he really was.

Yuu still didn't relax her defensiveness. Yubel twisted up to stare at her hopefully. "Mother. I trust him. I really do."

The tiny scabbed over parts on Yuu's shoulders that had once been her wings slumped downward and she dropped her head, voice quiet and regretful. "I know you do, Yubel. If – if you want to stay with him, I won't stop you." But now her eyes grew fierce and she stared at Juudai, "But if you cause Yubel the first moment of harm, then there will be _vengeance_."

Neither child seemed to hear that last part. They were far too immersed in staring at once another. Aodh shook his head. He'd seen a few interactions like that before, when those involved cared little or nothing for the opinions of others. It seemed that these would be no different.

"Show Yubel around, but watch your arm," he granted, and in mere moments the two of them hurried out of the royal courtroom. He wasn't surprised to see Yuu watching them with a soft gaze of regret. He touched Kaien's arm.

"Please have Heather brought here. I think it's best if we tend to our new warrior's wings as soon as possible." It would be better if Yuu could focus on her new duties quickly. Kaien would agree.

* * *

"What did you mean by talking flying magical rabbits?" Yubel asked as Juudai led them down the corridor. He flushed a deep shade of red.

"You took the food from my plate, didn't you?" Juudai wasn't surprised to see them nod. "We thought that rabbits were stealing from the garden since all we could find were rabbit tracks. So I thought – only a flying rabbit could've gotten up to where I was, and if it could fly it would be magical and it would be able to talk, too."

Yubel ducked their head. "Mother knows a few spells. She changed our tracks to look like rabbit tracks so we wouldn't be found. I think that's how they caught us: it was a spell to prevent other spells from working. So we couldn't hide and we couldn't get away."

Juudai nodded, ducking his head down for a few seconds. "You don't want to get away now, do you?"

"No." Yubel admitted. "I want to stay here for as long as I can." They hesitated for a few seconds. "Mother says we'll have to go back somewhere someday. She calls it 'home' but I don't remember it. We left when I was just a baby."

Juudai's fingers tightened on their hand. "Where you go, I go. Doesn't matter where."

Yubel's smile brightened the entire corridor. "And where you go, I go."

They kept on walking together, Juudai showing the sights, Yubel observing, hand in hand, for now and forever.

* * *

 **The End**

 **Notes:** Some day there will be a sequel. But tomorrow, I will begin to work on **The King's General**.


End file.
